AFC Playoff Picture, Week 9

AFC Playoff Picture

Rk	Team	W	L	T	Pct	Div	Conf
1	Cincinnati	6	2	0	.750	1-0	5-1
2	Houston	6	3	0	.667	3-0	6-2
3	New England	5	3	0	.625	2-1	4-2
4	Kansas City	4	4	0	.500	2-1	3-3
5	Baltimore	6	2	0	.750	2-0	4-2
6	Pittsburgh	6	3	0	.667	0-2	4-3
-	New York Jets	5	3	0	.625	2-1	4-3
-	Buffalo	5	3	0	.625	1-1	3-2
-	Tennessee	4	4	0	.500	1-2	4-4
-	San Diego	4	4	0	.500	2-1	3-3
-	Oakland	4	4	0	.500	1-2	4-4

Okay, so what do we have here? If the season ended today, Cincinnati and Houston would have first round byes in the AFC. I'm going to be honest, I'm buying up all the Houston stock I can get. They have navigated an almost 6-game stretch without top receiver Andre Johnson and won 4 of those games (including a win over the Steelers). And their defense is no longer a complete joke. Say what you will about Wade Phillips as a head coach (and I have), but the man is a legit defensive coordinator.

Cincy, I'm not too sure about. I'd feel better about them if they had played Pittsburgh or Baltimore once at this point. But they haven't. And they have a rookie quarterback. He's doing a heck of a job, but he's still a rookie. Their defense is also legit, but I'm concerned that their offense will stall as their schedule gets tricky.

The AFC East is very interesting, with 3 teams at 5-3. New England desperately needs to pull out of their funk and soon, because if they drop this week's game to the Jets, the tiebreakers are going to start going against the men of Belichick.

For all the accolades Baltimore is getting for sweeping the Steelers, they're only a half game ahead of them right now. That's what losing to Jacksonville and Tennessee will do to you. On the plus side, they have quite a few H2H tiebreakers (Pittsburgh, Houston, Jets) should it come to that.

And congratulations, AFC West, your division leader just handed Miami its first win in a 31-3 disaster.

Key games this week:
Oakland at San Diego (Thurs) - Oakland can ill-afford another division loss. San Diego can ill-afford to have Philip Rivers continue playing like Ryan Leaf.
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati - A win here, and we can all start taking the Bengals for real.
New England at New York Jets - Honestly, I think the Patriots need this one more. New England has distanced themselves from the pack the past couple of years by taking care of business outside of the division better than anyone else. But this year, they're faltering there, which means their usual cushion is gone. In a true divisional dogfight, I'm not sure the Pats are as well equipped to handle his as the Jets, even with New England's enormous advantage at the quarterback position.